Canada face Uzbekistan and Republic of Ireland in their final pre-World Cup friendlies, with Jesse Marsch managing injury concerns after Marcelo Flores’ heartbreaking setback and searching for goals from Jonathan David and Cyle Larin.
Canada Men’s National Team has just two games to go before kicking off the 2026 World Cup on home soil against Bosnia and Herzegovina on June 12 in Toronto, and the injuries remain the focus heading into the matches.
On Monday, Jesse Marsch’s men will hit the pitch in Edmonton in front of over 50,000 fans to take on World Cup-bound Uzbekistan, before shifting the camp to Montréal to face off against Ireland at a sold-out Stade Saputo.
Yet, the lead-up has been less than ideal. Nine of the 26 players named to Marsch’s squad on Friday evening are nursing some type of injury, and on Saturday, creative midfielder Marcelo Flores ruptured his ACL in the CONCACAF Champions Cup final, ruling him out of the tournament. No replacement was brought in ahead of the friendlies.
With his injury and other factors in mind, GOAL looks at the key storylines heading into the friendlies before the first home World Cup match in the men’s team’s history.
Injury concerns continue
When Marsch revealed his 26-man World Cup squad, it featured all the best names available, despite injury worries for at least nine of them. Things worsened Saturday when Flores tweaked his knee in an awkward step and had to be piggybacked off the pitch by a trainer, as his Tigres UANL went on to lose to Toluca in the Champions Cup final.
“We were having dinner when we saw the play,” vice-captain and midfielder Stephen Eustàquio said of Flores’ injury. “Obviously, there are a couple of players who have been through that injury, and we kind of knew that it could possibly be what it is. It's very unfortunate after seeing the videos of when he was selected, his family crying with joy, and he was very important for us as a person, but also as a player.”
These friendlies will be vital for Canada to work back some of the players that Marsch has said are trending in the right direction. Top-choice center back Moïse Bombito hasn’t played since October after sustaining a fractured leg and says he will be “100 percent” for the June 12 World Cup opener, but still needs to ramp up his minutes. Fellow central defender, Alfie Jones, hasn’t played since December and is coming off ankle surgery. Left back Alphonso Davies is out for the match, but his understudy, Richie Laryea, hasn’t played since April 22, either, but could see minutes.
Further up the pitch, Promise David cracked the roster as he has enjoyed an accelerated recovery from hip tendon surgery in February, but has not played recent minutes. Winger Jacob Shaffelburg has only managed 223 MLS minutes this season and trained on the side throughout the training camp in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Most players will get 45 minutes in the first match, with only Shaffelburg and fellow winger Ali Ahmed ruled out against Uzbekistan.
While Canada’s 26-man squad avoided the worst-case injury scenario, health and fitness remain the critical factors in these two matches - especially as Marsch waits for several key players to return to full sharpness and hopes Flores’ injury is the final setback.
Goalscoring needs to get going
Canada can stand on guard at the back. The defensive system under Marsch’s tenure, seemingly regardless of personnel, has shown that over the last two years. Yet, it’s the goalscoring that needs to rise for the World Cup. What better way to do that than to hit the back of the net a few times in friendlies?
Striker is a healthy position for Canada’s likely top options. Although Jonathan David underwhelmed in his first season with Juventus, he remains a cornerstone of Canada’s attack and will need to rekindle his best form through this summer. His partner will likely be longtime teammate and Canada’s second all-time leading scorer, behind himself, Cyle Larin.
The 31-year-old, now known as the “Brampton Bagsman,” a shoutout to his hometown from his club Southampton supporters, is playing more freely, more lightly, and more confidently than he has in a half-decade, and has scored nine goals since joining the Saints in January.
“I'm happy to be scoring goals again, obviously, after I went through a difficult period and a football career,” Larin told GOAL in March of his feverish scoring pace after leaving Feyenoord for the English coast. “It was about just finding the right place for me. I’ve always said, "When I play minutes, I play games and start games, I'm scoring goals.”
David is a lock to start every match at the World Cup and could play every minute. Larin will have to show some chemistry with the Juventus forward to reclaim his outright role in the lineup, and both would benefit greatly from an offensive outburst in either game.
Tani Oluwaseyi and Promise David will both get minutes. Still, the starting pair will be David and Larin, and goals would ease many of the worries across the striker pool, the team, and Canadian fans heading into the World Cup.
Questions at left back
Without Davies and given Laryea’s long layoff, there are questions for Canada’s left back role heading into the friendlies and the World Cup. If neither can play at their best, what’s the solution?
Marsch could move either of right backs, Niko Sigur or Alistair Johnston, to the position. Until recent months, Sigur primarily played as a midfielder with Hajduk Split but took on right-back duties with Canada. At the same time, Laryea shifted to Davies’ left-side role, and Johnston was sidelined with hamstring concerns.
Johnston now returns to the national team picture for the first time since June’s Gold Cup and is in stellar form after completing a late-season surge with Celtic, leading his hoops to an improbable Scottish Premier League title and the Scottish FA Cup. According to TransferMarkt, Johnston hasn’t played a game at left back in his 271 professional and national team appearances, while Sigur has briefly played the role, despite his right-footedness, and could be better suited for that fallback option if needed.
“I’ve played left back before, a few years ago, a few games in the pre-season and one league game,” Sigur told reporters. “I’m comfortable on the left.”
Other potential solutions include playing Zorhan Bassong in these friendlies to measure minutes for Laryea, as the Sporting Kansas City left back has remained in camp, despite being cut from the 26-man squad. Yet, Laryea will be given every chance to prove his fitness, and the role is Davies’ when he returns.
The goalkeeping decision
It’s taken years, but Marsch will finally decide his starting goalkeeper for the World Cup this week. After evenly splitting starts between Dayne St. Clair and Maxime Crépeau through his tenure as head coach, he told reporters that the decision on the World Cup No. 1 will come after the Uzbekistan match, where both will play 45 minutes.
While St. Clair has taken on the higher-ranked team in the two-match international windows over the past year, Crépeau might just have the inside track on the top role. Much of that comes down to vibes, rather than goalkeeping, as Crépeau’s performances and confidence despite a 2–0 loss to Argentina to open the Copa América in Marsch’s third game in charge still looms large.
At the club level this year, neither has been great. Crépeau has allowed 43 goals on Orlando City, the worst defensive team in MLS, and has a goals prevented mark of -0.6, while St. Clair has allowed 28 goals on an Inter Miami team that isn’t much better.
“We’ve got to know one another off the field as well, and we’ve got to know what works for us when we’re playing, when we’re not playing, pushing one another, preparing one another for all the situations, basically,” Crépeau told The Canadian Press.
“We know ourselves pretty well, and there’s a mutual respect there because, obviously, we’re good guys, but we care for one another at the end of the day. It’s something that’s very healthy within our group.”
The decision won’t be easy, especially considering it’s Crépeau’s first World Cup after missing 2022 after a heroic leg-breaking save to help LAFC win MLS Cup. There’s probably no “wrong decision,” per se, but whichever way Marsch goes will be heavily scrutinized, and telling the pair of longtime friends which one will get to live their childhood dream isn’t an enviable position to be in.
Passionate Canadian soccer fandom on full display
Canada will enter the circus this week, playing in front of over 45,000 fans at the country’s largest stadium in Edmonton against Uzbekistan, before moving to Montreal to play Ireland in front of a sold-out Stade Saputo.
After a week that players and Marsch described as “calm,” in Charlotte, away from the public focus and without mass attention, they will face the attention head-on. Not only from a large media contingent, but also from two boisterous crowds in Edmonton and Montreal.
Is it pressure? Not entirely. For many in the Canadian public, soccer is still a novelty, and the fact that Canada is at least competitive and in the tournament will contribute to a more celebratory feeling. Yet, the players will feel the pressure on themselves, and once they enter the circus that is a home World Cup, handling the attention in a positive manner will be vital.
“We're excited to be in Edmonton to start things off, and we know there'll be a big crowd,” Marsch said. “We're excited to be here in Canada after the work we put in down in Carolina, and yeah, we're just, we're ready and focused for tomorrow, and then another sold-out building in Montréal.”